Smart aviation dynamic cookie

ABSTRACT

An information manager may include processing circuitry configured to receive dynamic aircraft information associated with operation of an in-flight aircraft, receive a message from a communication device on the in-flight aircraft for transmission to a ground based content server via a wireless communication network capable of communicating with in-flight assets, and generate an aviation cookie for communication to the content server along with the message. The aviation cookie may be generated based on the dynamic aircraft information and may enable the content server to generate content based at least in part on the dynamic aircraft information.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.17/227,854 filed Apr. 12, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/906,244 filed Jun. 19, 2020, which is acontinuation of Ser. No. 15/568,560 filed on Oct. 23, 2017 which is theU.S. National Phase application of international application numberPCT/US2016/023358 filed on Mar. 21, 2016 which claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 14/700,734 filed Apr. 30, 2015, the entire contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Example embodiments generally relate to wireless communications and,more particularly, relate to the use of aircraft position information inrelation to serving content to users of a wireless communication networkcapable of communicating with in-flight assets.

BACKGROUND

High speed data communications and the devices that enable suchcommunications have become ubiquitous in modern society. These devicesmake many users capable of maintaining nearly continuous connectivity tothe Internet and other communication networks. Although these high speeddata connections are available through telephone lines, cable modems orother such devices that have a physical wired connection, wirelessconnections have revolutionized our ability to stay connected withoutsacrificing mobility.

However, in spite of the familiarity that people have with remainingcontinuously connected to networks while on the ground, people generallyunderstand that easy and/or cheap connectivity will tend to stop once anaircraft is boarded. Aviation platforms have still not become easily andcheaply connected to communication networks, at least for the passengersonboard. Attempts to stay connected in the air are typically costly andhave bandwidth limitations or high latency problems. Moreover,passengers willing to deal with the expense and issues presented byaircraft communication capabilities are often limited to very specificcommunication modes that are supported by the rigid communicationarchitecture provided on the aircraft.

Conventional ground based communication systems have been developed andmatured over the past couple of decades. While advances continue to bemade in relation to ground based communication, and one might expectthat some of those advances may also be applicable to communication withaviation platforms, in-flight communication systems actually introduce anumber of unique challenges and opportunities that will necessitate orotherwise influence various changes in network operation relative toconventional ground based communication.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF SOME EXAMPLES

One additional factor to consider relative to in-flight communication isthat the coverage ranges that may be possible to achieve in in-flightnetworks can be vastly larger than the ranges possible for ground basednetworks. Additionally, the mobile devices being served in an in-flightcontext are moving at much higher speeds, and over much longerdistances, than a typical ground-based wireless customer. Based on thisrapid movement, potentially large geographic displacement, and uniquetravel context that may be shared by multiple users, some interestingopportunities may exist in relation to content provision to the usersbased on location information associated with the aircraft, especiallywhen coupled with information unique to each user or connection node(machine or humans individually or together can constitute a ‘user’) onthe aircraft. Example embodiments may therefore insert aircraft locationinformation (and/or other information related to the aircraft and/orinformation related to the user) into requests originating from users onan aircraft being served in a wireless communication network capable ofcommunicating with in-flight assets (such as an air-to-ground (ATG)network).

In one example embodiment, an information manager is provided. Theinformation manager may include processing circuitry configured toreceive dynamic aircraft information associated with operation of anin-flight aircraft, receive a message from a communication device on thein-flight aircraft for transmission to a ground based content server viaa wireless communication network capable of communicating with in-flightassets, and generate an aviation cookie for communication to the contentserver along with the message. The aviation cookie may be generatedbased on the dynamic aircraft information and may enable the contentserver to generate content based at least in part on the dynamicaircraft information.

In another example embodiment, a wireless communication network capableof communicating with in-flight assets is provided. The network mayinclude a plurality of access points and at least one aircraft havingmobile communications nodes thereon. The network may also include aninformation manager on the aircraft, or at least operably coupled to thenetwork. The information manager may include processing circuitryconfigured to receive dynamic aircraft information associated withoperation of an in-flight aircraft, receive a message from acommunication device on the in-flight aircraft for transmission to aground based content server via a wireless communication network capableof communicating with in-flight assets, and generate an aviation cookiefor communication to the content server along with the message. Theaviation cookie may be generated based on the dynamic aircraftinformation and may enable the content server to generate content basedat least in part on the dynamic aircraft information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will nowbe made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn toscale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an aircraft moving through the coverage areas ofdifferent access points over time in accordance with an exampleembodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system for employing dynamicaircraft information for generating an aviation cookie in accordancewith an example embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates control circuitry that may be employed to assist ingenerating the aviation cookie according to an example embodiment; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a method for employing an aviationcookie in accordance with an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some example embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not allexample embodiments are shown. Indeed, the examples described andpictured herein should not be construed as being limiting as to thescope, applicability or configuration of the present disclosure. Rather,these example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure willsatisfy applicable legal requirements. Like reference numerals refer tolike elements throughout. Furthermore, as used herein, the term “or” isto be interpreted as a logical operator that results in true wheneverone or more of its operands are true. As used herein, the terms “data,”“content,” “information” and similar terms may be used interchangeablyto refer to data capable of being transmitted, received and/or stored inaccordance with example embodiments. Thus, use of any such terms shouldnot be taken to limit the spirit and scope of example embodiments.

As used in herein, the terms “component,” “module,” “system,” “device”and the like are intended to include a computer-related entity, such asbut not limited to hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, or software in execution on some sort of hardware. Forexample, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a processrunning on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a threadof execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of example, both anapplication running on a computing device and/or the computing devicecan be a component. One or more components can reside within a processand/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on onecomputer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition,these components can execute from various computer readable media havingvarious data structures stored thereon. The components may communicateby way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with asignal having one or more data packets, such as data from one componentinteracting with another component in a local system, distributedsystem, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systemsby way of the signal.

Artificial intelligence based systems (e.g., explicitly and/orimplicitly trained classifiers) can be employed in connection withperforming inference and/or probabilistic determinations and/orstatistical-based determinations in accordance with one or more aspectsof the subject matter as described hereinafter. As used herein, the term“inference” refers generally to the process of reasoning about orinferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set ofobservations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can beemployed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate aprobability distribution over states, for example. The inference can beprobabilistic—that is, the computation of a probability distributionover states of interest based on a consideration of data and events.Inference can also refer to techniques employed for generatinghigher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inferenceresults in the construction of new events or actions from a set ofobserved events or stored event data, regardless of whether the eventsare correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events anddata come from one or several event and data sources. Variousclassification schemes and/or systems (e.g., support vector machines,neural networks, expert systems, Bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic,data fusion engines, etc.), for example, can be employed in connectionwith performing automatic and/or inferred actions in connection with thesubject matter.

Thus, for example, some embodiments may provide a network device orsystem in which a component is provided to use internally or externallyderived position information associated with mobile communication nodeswithin the network (i.e., an aircraft or the communication devicesthereon) in order to make inferences and/or probabilistic determinationsabout where and when such nodes will be most advantageously served byvarious ones of the base stations of the network. Control signals andfunctionalities may therefore be generated for control of the basestations and/or for instruction to the communication nodes in order tofacilitate efficient operation of the network. Load balancing, antennabeam steering, interference mitigation, network security and/or denialof service functions may therefore be enhanced by the operation of someembodiments.

Cookies are well known in the area of web browsing, and are used in anumber of ways within that context. Cookies are often provided to enablecontent providers (e.g., websites) to retain stateful information aboutusers or track the activity of the users, often in an attempt to targetcontent to users or make the browsing experience more enjoyable.Traditional cookies often involve the sending of data (i.e., the cookie)from a website that is visited by a user to the user's web browser whilethe user is visiting the website. When the user returns to the website,the browser sends the cookie back to the server associated with thewebsite. By tracking user activity with cookies, targeted advertisementsor other content that is tailored to the user can be provided.

Although a number of different types of cookies are possible, some usersobject to the saving of cookies on their devices and attempt to blockcookies. Various other mechanisms have therefore been developed toaccomplish the same results achievable with a traditional cookie, but doso without storing blockable cookies on the user's device. As such,within the context of this disclosure, although the term “cookie” willbe used to describe some example embodiments, it should be appreciatedthat the example embodiments described herein need not take the form ofa traditional cookie. Instead, example embodiments approximate thefunction of a cookie in some ways, but may be the same or different inform, and are distinguishable in function by the unique application andcontext involved the employment of these cookies in an in-flightnetwork. Given that current in-flight networks have limited capabilitiesfor providing information about aircraft and/or location due to limitedbi-directional bandwidth and other constraints, example embodiments mayprovide a practical way to cure that deficiency and create “smart” or“intelligent” content leveraging the smart aviation dynamic cookie.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example layout of a wireless network 100 includingmultiple cells 102 for providing wireless communication services. Thecells 102 can be implemented by one or more access points 104 tofacilitate supporting wireless communications within a geographicalcoverage area of a given cell 102. In this regard, the one or moreaccess points 104 can communicate with one or more wirelesscommunication devices (not shown) present within a respective cell 102.The access points 104 can be assets of one or more existing wirelessnetworks, and/or carriers supporting such networks. Each access point104 has a wired (or wireless) backhaul connection to the one or moreexisting wireless networks to allow access thereto for the wirelesscommunications devices connected with the access point 104. Moreover,the access points 104 can be provided via cellular towers or other towerstructures (as in the depicted example), rooftops or other structures(e.g. building facades, church steeples, billboards, etc. . . . ) havingwireless communication infrastructure, mobile vehicles and vessels,and/or the like. Furthermore, in existing wireless networks, it is to beappreciated that some cells 102 may overlap or completely encompass oneanother, and/or coverage gaps may exist between some cells 102, etc.,though FIG. 1 shows a deployment of substantially adjacent cells thatare deployed to provide continuous coverage over a relatively largearea.

It should be appreciated that although the cells 102 of FIG. 1 are shownhaving a particular shape (i.e., a hexagonal shape), cells of examplenetworks could have any shape depending on terrain and/or buildingconstraints. Moreover, it should also be appreciated that although theaccess points 104 of FIG. 1 are shown to be positioned substantially inthe center of the cells 102 with coverage being provided substantially360 degrees around each respective one of the access points 104, thisstructure is not required in all examples. To the contrary, accesspoints 104 could be at cell edges or at any other position within thecells 102, and the cells 102 could take any suitable shape dictated bythe radiation patterns and sector coverage deployments of the antennasand antenna arrays provided at each respective one of the access points104. It should also be appreciated that although the cells 102 aregenerally depicted to end their respective coverage areas where thecorresponding coverage area of an adjacent cell begins, there willtypically be some amount of overlap in coverage areas of adjacent cells102.

In an example embodiment in which the wireless network 100 is anair-to-ground (ATG) network, the access points 104 may be enabled toestablish wireless communication links to aircraft 110 or mobilecommunication nodes disposed thereon. The aircraft 110 can be expectedto move through the network 100 in such a way as to require handoverbetween various ones of the access points 104 in order to maintaincontinuous and uninterrupted communication between the mobilecommunication node(s) on the aircraft 110 and the network devices towhich the backhaul connections couple the access points 104. Theaircraft 110 may be a commercial or business jet or other airplane, orthe aircraft 110 could be a drone, satellite, balloon, or otherin-flight asset capable of communication with ground based communicationequipment forming a network. Given that the cells 102 in an ATG networkdefine three dimensional (3D) coverage areas that extend up to apredetermined altitude, it should therefore also be appreciated that theborders or edges between cells 102 may vary based on altitude. Thus, theborders between cells 102 in FIG. 1 may apply at a particular altitude.However, the borders may be different (or the same) at other altitudes.Thus, unlike a typical terrestrial network, where a change in latitudeand longitude coordinates would typically be the driving determiner forwhich cell 102 the mobile communications nodes of the network select forcommunication purposes, within the network 100, a handover between cellscould be necessitated or desirable merely on the basis of altitudechange for a given location in terms of latitude and longitudecoordinates.

As shown in FIG. 1, the aircraft 110 may follow a route 120 that causesthe aircraft 110 to pass through certain ones of the cells 102. As theaircraft 110 passes through each respective one of the cells 102 alongthe route 120, the mobile communication node (or nodes) of the aircraft110 may communicate with the respective 104 access points of the cells102 along the route 120. However, the communication node (or nodes) ofthe aircraft 110 may not encounter or ever communicate with a number ofthe cells 102. In particular, the aircraft 110 may not communicate withcells 102 that are located remotely from the route 120.

Meanwhile, there may also be certain areas along the route 120 at whichthe aircraft 110 may be in or next two multiple cells 102 at aparticular point in time. For example, in overlap region 130, the route120 carries the aircraft 110 near the intersection of three differentcells (e.g., a first cell 140, a second cell 142 and a third cell 144).The route 120 initially has the aircraft 110 completely within the firstcell 140. However, the route 120 then carries the aircraft 110 proximateto the second cell 142. In this example, the aircraft 110 may actuallyspend a short time proximate to edges of the first cell 140, the secondcell 142 and the third cell 144 at the same time. Then, the route 120may provide that the aircraft 110 travels along the edge between thesecond cell 142 and the third cell 144 for a relatively long period oftime.

In some networks, the mobile communication nodes on the aircraft 110 maybe configured to request handover based on signal strength changes orthe like in order to attempt to maintain continuous and uninterruptedcoverage. Alternatively, the access points 104 may communicate with eachother and/or the mobile communication nodes to handle handover decisionsbased on signal strength or other criteria.

In an in-flight communications system, the end-user equipment (e.g.,wired and wireless routers, mobile phones, laptop computers, on-boardentertainment systems, and/or the like) may be installed or otherwisepresent on the aircraft 110. The user equipment (UE) and any receivingand/or routing device(s) on the aircraft 110 itself may form mobilecommunication nodes of the wireless network 100. Accordingly, in-flightcommunications should be understood to involve communications from anetwork of ground (i.e., meaning land-based or sea-based, otherwisereferred to as terrestrial) based access points to any in-flight asset(e.g., airplanes, drones, balloons, satellites, etc.) However, exampleembodiments are applicable to other wireless communication networkscapable of communicating with in-flight assets beyond just ATG networks.As such, the ATG network applications described herein should beappreciated as being just one example of such a network. Networksemploying satellites, other aircraft, drones, and/or the like to serveor communicate with other in-flight assets may also employ aviationcookies as described herein. In an example embodiment, the utilizationof position information associated with these mobile communication nodes(along with user information, if desired) may be incorporated intocommunication via the wireless network 100 to alter, enhance or augmentthe communications conducted via the wireless network 100. In thisregard, for example, data, communications or messages leaving theaircraft 110 may be provided with an aviation cookie (e.g., a smartaviation dynamic cookie) that incorporates such information into thedata, communications or messages. Content tailored to or based on thelocation, destination, and/or point of origination of the user maytherefore be provided to the UEs or other devices on the aircraft 110.

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of some components and/ordevices of a system facilitating communication in a wirelesscommunication network capable of communicating with in-flight assetsthat may employ an example embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, a firstaccess point 200 and a second access point 202 may each be base stations(e.g., examples of access points 104) of an example embodiment of thewireless network 100, which in this case may be an ATG network 210. TheATG network 210 may further include other access points (APs) as well,and each of the APs may be in communication with the ATG network 210 viaa gateway (GTW) device 220. The ATG network 210 may further be incommunication with a wide area network such as the Internet 230, VirtualPrivate Networks (VPNs) or other communication networks. In someembodiments, the ATG network 210 may include or otherwise be coupled toa packet-switched core or other telecommunications network. As shown inFIG. 2, the aircraft 110 may be an airplane 110 a, a satellite 110 b, adrone 110 c or any other in-flight asset (e.g., a balloon).

In an example embodiment, the ATG network 210 may include an informationmanager 240 that may include, for example, processing circuitryconfigured to handle provision of position information and/or otherinformation related to flight characteristics of the aircraft forcommunications provided in the ATG network 210 to influence theprovision of content to assets on the aircraft 110 or elsewhere. Thus,for example, the information manager 240 may be configured to handle theprovision of position information into messages associated with routingvoice, video or data (i.e., content) to and from the aircraft 110 (or tomobile communication nodes of or on the aircraft 110) and/or handleother data or communication transfers between the mobile communicationnodes of or on the aircraft 110 and the ATG network 210 with respect toposition assisted services/content. Alternatively or additionally, theinformation manager 240 may provide other information about the aircraft110 or about equipment/sensors on the aircraft 110 for addition intocommunication transfers between the aircraft 100 and the ATG network 210with respect to other services/content. In some embodiments, theinformation manager 240 may be configured for controlling the forwardingof messages and/or data to and from the mobile communication nodes of oron the aircraft 110, and may also control the forwarding of messages forthe access points. It should be noted that although the informationmanager 240 is shown in the system of FIG. 2, the information manager240 is merely an exemplary network device and example embodiments arenot limited to use in a network employing the information manager 240.Moreover, although the information manager 240 is shown as a part of theATG network 210 that is ground based, it should be appreciated that theinformation manager 240 could, in some embodiments, be provided on theaircraft 110, at the APs, or at the GTW devices. Moreover, theinformation manager 240 could be distributed between such entitiesand/or have duplicated instances at some or all of such entities. FIG. 2shows an airborne instance of the information manager as IM 240′. Whenthe information manager 240 is provided to support aircraft to aircraftcommunications in a public or private mesh network environment.

The information manager 240 may be coupled to a data network, such as alocal area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), and/or awide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet 230) indirectly via the ATGnetwork 210. In turn, devices such as processing elements (e.g.,personal computers, laptop computers, smartphones, server computers orthe like such as the UEs 270 and OCEs 272) can be coupled to the ATGnetwork 210 via the radio 250 on the aircraft 110. The ATG network 210may then also couple these devices to the Internet 230. However, byemploying an example embodiment, and incorporating aircraft informationas described herein, responses provided to the processing elements maybe tailored based on the aircraft information, as described herein.

Although not every element of every possible embodiment of the ATGnetwork 210 is shown and described herein, it should be appreciated thatthe mobile communication nodes of or on the aircraft 110 may be coupledto one or more of any of a number of different public or privatenetworks through the ATG network 210. In this regard, the network(s) canbe capable of supporting communication in accordance with any one ormore of a number of first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G),third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G) and/or future mobilecommunication protocols or the like. In some cases, the communicationsupported may employ communication links defined using unlicensed bandfrequencies such as 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz or licensed band frequencies.

As shown in FIG. 2, the aircraft 110 may be capable of accessing contentfrom and/or providing information or requests to the Internet 230 viathe ATG network 210. More specifically, the aircraft 110 may include aradio 250 configured to communicate with the APs (e.g., the first AP 200and the second AP 202) of the ATG network 210. The data, requests,messages and/or the like from the mobile communication devices of or onthe aircraft 110 may therefore be communicatively coupled to a contentserver 260 accessible via the Internet 230. The mobile communicationdevices of or on the aircraft 110 may include UEs 270 of the passengersand/or crew and other on-board communication equipment (OCE) 272 of theaircraft 110. In some cases, a router of some sort (e.g., a wirelessaccess point (WAP) 274) may be provided on the aircraft 110 todistribute communications received from the ATG network 210 to the UEs270 and/or OCE 272. In an example embodiment, the communications betweenthe Internet 230 and the UEs 270 or OCE 272 may occur substantially inreal time. As such, for example, in some cases there may not be anyon-board storage of the content received by the radio 250 prior todistribution of the content to the UEs 270 or OCE 272.

The content server 260 may be any server associated with a website,online service and/or the like. However, in some cases, the contentserver 260 may be associated with one or more services that store,process or otherwise handle information regarding aircraft informationprovided for the aircraft 110 via the ATG network 210 while the aircraft110 is in-flight. The aircraft information may, in many situations,include position information. However, in some cases, the aircraftinformation may include other flight related data and/or information asdescribed in greater detail below.

FIG. 3 illustrates one possible architecture for implementation of theinformation manager 240 in accordance with an example embodiment. Theinformation manager 240 may include processing circuitry 310 configuredto provide an aviation cookie 305 for network assets based on processingof various input information including dynamic aircraft informationassociated with the aircraft 110. The processing circuitry 310 may beconfigured to perform data processing, control function execution and/orother processing and management services according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention. In some embodiments, the processingcircuitry 310 may be embodied as a chip or chip set. In other words, theprocessing circuitry 310 may comprise one or more physical packages(e.g., chips) including materials, components and/or wires on astructural assembly (e.g., a baseboard). The structural assembly mayprovide physical strength, conservation of size, and/or limitation ofelectrical interaction for component circuitry included thereon. Theprocessing circuitry 310 may therefore, in some cases, be configured toimplement an embodiment of the present invention on a single chip or asa single “system on a chip.” As such, in some cases, a chip or chipsetmay constitute means for performing one or more operations for providingthe functionalities described herein.

In an example embodiment, the processing circuitry 310 may include oneor more instances of a processor 312 and memory 314 that may be incommunication with or otherwise control a device interface 320 and, insome cases, a user interface 330. As such, the processing circuitry 310may be embodied as a circuit chip (e.g., an integrated circuit chip)configured (e.g., with hardware, software or a combination of hardwareand software) to perform operations described herein. However, in someembodiments, the processing circuitry 310 may be embodied as a portionof an on-board computer. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry310 may communicate with various components, entities and/or sensors ofthe ATG network 210.

The user interface 330 (if implemented) may be in communication with theprocessing circuitry 310 to receive an indication of a user input at theuser interface 330 and/or to provide an audible, visual, mechanical orother output to the user. As such, the user interface 330 may include,for example, a display, one or more levers, switches, indicator lights,touchscreens, proximity devices, buttons or keys (e.g., functionbuttons), and/or other input/output mechanisms. In some embodiments,crew of the aircraft 110 may interact with the user interface 330 toprovide information that may be used to augment or modify dynamicaircraft information 360 that may be received from various sensors ofthe aircraft 110 or may be generated based on sensor data received fromsensors of the aircraft 110. In an example embodiment, the informationprovided by the user interface 330 may sometimes be manual entry of dataotherwise available as the dynamic aircraft information 360. In otherwords, instead of receiving dynamic aircraft information 360 directlyfrom onboard sensors, some information may be monitored or received bythe user and the user may enter such information into the user interface330.

The device interface 320 may include one or more interface mechanismsfor enabling communication with other devices (e.g., modules, entities,sensors and/or other components of the aircraft 110 (or other componentsof the ATG network 210)). In some cases, the device interface 320 may beany means such as a device or circuitry embodied in either hardware, ora combination of hardware and software that is configured to receiveand/or transmit data from/to modules, entities, sensors and/or othercomponents of aircraft 110 (or the ATG network 210) that are incommunication with the processing circuitry 310.

The processor 312 may be embodied in a number of different ways. Forexample, the processor 312 may be embodied as various processing meanssuch as one or more of a microprocessor or other processing element, acoprocessor, a controller or various other computing or processingdevices including integrated circuits such as, for example, an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit), an FPGA (field programmablegate array), or the like. In an example embodiment, the processor 312may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 314 orotherwise accessible to the processor 312. As such, whether configuredby hardware or by a combination of hardware and software, the processor312 may represent an entity (e.g., physically embodied in circuitry—inthe form of processing circuitry 310) capable of performing operationsaccording to embodiments of the present invention while configuredaccordingly. Thus, for example, when the processor 312 is embodied as anASIC, FPGA or the like, the processor 312 may be specifically configuredhardware for conducting the operations described herein. Alternatively,as another example, when the processor 312 is embodied as an executor ofsoftware instructions, the instructions may specifically configure theprocessor 312 to perform the operations described herein.

In an example embodiment, the processor 312 (or the processing circuitry310) may be embodied as, include or otherwise control the operation ofthe information manager 240 based on inputs received by the processingcircuitry 310 responsive to receipt of dynamic aircraft information. Assuch, in some embodiments, the processor 312 (or the processingcircuitry 310) may be said to cause each of the operations described inconnection with the information manager 240 in relation to generation ofthe aviation cookie 305 responsive to execution of instructions oralgorithms configuring the processor 312 (or processing circuitry 310)accordingly. In particular, the instructions may include instructionsfor processing 3D position information of the aircraft 110 along withany of a number of other types of aircraft information, as discussedbelow. The aviation cookie 305 may then be useable for providing contentback to the aircraft 110 (or entities thereon) based on the dynamicaircraft information 360 as described herein.

In an exemplary embodiment, the memory 314 may include one or morenon-transitory memory devices such as, for example, volatile and/ornon-volatile memory that may be either fixed or removable. The memory314 may be configured to store information, data, applications,instructions or the like for enabling the processing circuitry 310 tocarry out various functions in accordance with exemplary embodiments ofthe present invention. For example, the memory 314 could be configuredto buffer input data for processing by the processor 312. Additionallyor alternatively, the memory 314 could be configured to storeinstructions for execution by the processor 312. As yet anotheralternative, the memory 314 may include one or more databases that maystore a variety of data sets responsive to input sensors and components.Among the contents of the memory 314, applications and/or instructionsmay be stored for execution by the processor 312 in order to carry outthe functionality associated with each respectiveapplication/instruction. In some cases, the applications may includeinstructions for providing inputs to control operation of theinformation manager 240 as described herein.

In some embodiments, the information manager 240 may provide theaircraft information as a replacement for, an attachment to, or anaugmentation of an HTTP cookie or other web cookie. This replaced,modified or augmented cookie may be referred to as an aviation cookieand is one example of aircraft information provided by the informationmanager 240. The structure of a typical HTTP or web cookie includes aname, a value and (in some cases) one or more attributes. In an exampleembodiment, the aviation cookie may include name and/or value that isindicative of aircraft information. For example, the name of theaviation cookie may indicate that the cookie is an aviation cookie andthe value may indicate aircraft location, destination or point oforigination. Alternatively, the value may indicate information about theaircraft 110 that is sufficient to allow at least the destination orpoint of origination to be determined (e.g., from a lookup table ofaircraft flight plans). In some cases, the value may provide identityinformation about the user or aircraft. Attribute information, ifemployed, may define an expiration time for the aviation cookie, whichin some cases may indicate a time of arrival. However, other structuresmay alternatively be provided for the aviation cookie, and the aviationcookie may be coded, may be a hash of information that can be determinedusing a hash table as a reference, and/or may include a series ofinformational flags or data bins that are coded to allow a significantamount of information to be determined from a relatively small amount oftransmitted data in the aviation cookie. In addition to the provision oflocation information and identity information, personal preferences oruser-specific setting information may also be provided in the aviationcookie. In some cases, the aviation cookie may include a pointer to atable, website or other resource to enable the receiver of an aviationcookie to reference such resource in order to decipher the aviationcookie and serve content accordingly.

In such an example, the information manager 240 may be configured tointercept HTTP cookies, web cookies or other standard cookies andaugment such cookies with the dynamic aircraft information 360. Theaugmentation may keep the cookies in a standard format, or may transformthe cookies into a new format. In either case, the aviation cookie 305represents a cookie that has been augmented, modified or otherwisereplaces a standard cookie when employed in this context.

In examples in which the aviation cookie 305 creates a new format forthe cookie, the format could take any useable form. The aviation cookie305 may include at least some aircraft information that is usable forinteraction with services provided via the Internet 230 and/or thecontent server 260. As an example, the aviation cookie 305 could supporteconomy services by including information such as route and flightprofile information to facilitate route optimization. In some cases, theaviation cookie 305 could include information capable of use withservices related to compliance with certification standards or dispatchsupport. In some embodiments, maintenance information may be provided aspart of the dynamic aircraft information 360 to enable the aviationcookie 305 to support maintenance scheduling and/or parts prepositioningby a service associated with the content server 260. As such, variouson-board sensors may provide engine run hours, position information,temperature data, pressure data, RPM and/or various other aircraftoperational metrics that may be reported as part of the aviation cookie305 to facilitate en route and archival analysis of onboard systemsand/or next generation flight essentials.

In some embodiments, the aviation cookie 305 may report information thatmay be used for safety related purposes. For example, the content server260 may be associated with various services related to safety to allowthe dynamic aircraft information 360 to be reported to the ground viathe ATG network 210 for streaming black box services and/or exceedanceevents. Predictive and en route maintenance support, enhanced security,communications services and/or real time, high resolution weatherservices may also be supported by the provision of the aviation cookie305 to the content server 260.

Accordingly, in some examples, the aviation cookie 305 may have a formor structure that includes at least a first portion (e.g., a header orbody portion) that is indicative of identity (e.g., of the aircraft 110or individual). The identity information may be used to determinepreference settings (if related to an individual) or may be correlatedto a maintenance record or maintenance service (if related to theaircraft 110). In some cases, the identity information may be used tolookup route planning information or scheduling information for theaircraft 110 (e.g., by processing circuitry of the content server 260).The aviation cookie 305 may also include a second portion indicative ofa location of the aircraft 110 (and therefore also the individual). Thesecond portion may identify GPS location including altitude, heading andspeed, and/or may simply identify destination and point of origin, asdescribed above. The aviation cookie 305 may also include a thirdportion including content or data indicative of or fulfilling a purposeof the aviation cookie 305. As such, the third portion may include anidentity of the trigger event that caused generation of the aviationcookie 305, data related to aircraft health monitoring and/or exceedanceevents, or any other data that corresponds to the aviation cookiesdescribed herein.

In some cases, the aviation cookie 305 may also include a fourth portionused to indicate an intended recipient of the data. Thus, for example,if an exceedance event occurs, the first portion may identify theaircraft experiencing the exceedance event and the second portion mayidentify where the aircraft is located when the exceedance eventoccurred. The third portion may identify that the trigger of theaviation cookie 305 generation was the exceedance event, and may alsoprovide some data about the exceedance event. The fourth portion mayindicate the entity to be notified of the exceedance event and any dataassociated therewith. As such, for example, the content server 260 mayreceive the aviation cookie 305 and decode each coded portion describedabove to determine the content of the aviation cookie 305 (e.g., usinghash tables, code tables, and/or the like). The content server 260 maythen identify whether a manufacturer, maintenance facility, scheduler,owner, and/or other entity should be informed of the exceedance eventand corresponding data associated therewith. The proper informing maythen be executed (e.g., by messaging to other content servers and/orservices).

By providing the fourth portion, aviation cookie routing (or at leastrouting of information received thereby) may be accomplished to ensurethat follow-on activities can be scheduled, planned or otherwiseexecuted. In some cases, the fourth portion may enable routing of datato a maintenance facility or manufacturer that will be able to identifypatterns or events that have known or learnable corrective actionsassociated therewith. The data may otherwise be tracked to work towardsuch capabilities, in any case. As such, the content server 260 mayroute data to the proper party or parties to take and/or coordinateactions relative to the specific type of data or content provided in theaviation cookie 305.

In an example embodiment, various information provided in connectionwith the aviation cookie 305 may be used for operational and/orpassenger productivity enhancement. For example, crew scheduling andtraining may be coordinated at least in part on the basis of informationautomatically polled from onboard systems or entered by crew manually asaircraft information that is reported to the content server 260 as theaviation cookie 305. Maintenance coordination, interface with groundservices, disruption management, electronic flight bag (EFB) operationsand schedule prediction may also be facilitated via the aviation cookie305. Passenger productivity may be enhanced by providing support foroffice productivity applications, VPN extensions of corporate networks,enterprise security, real-time access to travel resources and internetresearch on the basis of aviation cookies 305. Thus, for example,internet research and/or travel resources could be tailored to currentlocation, destination or point of origin. Ground transportation at thedestination could, for example, be organized with respect to a specifictime of arrival that is determinable based on point of origin and/orcurrent location relative to the destination.

In some cases, entertainment resources may be tailored to informationobtainable via the aviation cookie 305 as well. For example, emails,texts, video chats and/or the like may be augmented or enabled based onthe aviation cookie 305. Streaming HD movies, music, games, onlinebooks, periodicals or newspapers may also be provided at least in partbased on the aviation cookie 305. For example, the newspaper for thedestination or the point of origin may be served to the UE 270 of a userrequesting or searching for news based on the aviation cookie 305.Similarly, for any internet access or services or geography-specificdigital rights management, the services requested may be provided basedon the aviation cookie 305. As such, for example, content or responsesto restaurant searches, or other services that are specific to alocation can be tailored based on the aviation cookie 305. However,although the location information provided by the aviation cookie 305may ensure that content served to the user is generated based on thelocation of the user at the time the request is made (e.g., when in theair and transiting to a given destination), the location informationdoes not necessarily specifically dictate all aspects of the contentserved. Instead, for example, identity information of the user may alsobe included in the aviation cookie 305 and the identify information may,in some cases, counterbalance the provision of content strictly on thebasis of the location of the request. For example, the aviation cookie305 may include identity information that may identify the user'slanguage preference, such that a request for an internet page isdelivered in the language of the user, and not based on the location ofthe aircraft-serving ground based tower or access point in the case ofsatellite communications, balloon, drone, or other such relay node.Thus, for example, if the user is flying over and/or to a non-Englishspeaking foreign country and attempts to requisition groundtransportation while in-flight, the aviation cookie 305 may provideinformation indicative of the current location of the user, and theuser's destination and estimated time of arrival. However, if the userspeaks English, the aviation cookie 305 may still dictate that thecontent served, although served relative to a specific location, isserved in English and not the native language of the location.

In some cases, the processing circuitry 310 may also be configured toreceive the dynamic aircraft information 360 as an indication of a threedimensional position (e.g., GPS location including altitude), which mayalso be augmented with other sensor data. As such, for example, thequality of the ride being provided may be known in terms of the amountof turbulence encountered. The airline or other aviation servicesprovider may therefore receive the aviation cookie 305 as an indicatorof the location of the aircraft 110 and the current conditions on thetrip. An apology or even discounts or coupons may be provided toencourage customer loyalty or at least let the customer know that theservice provider is aware of the conditions of the flight, and issensitive to trying to improve service and foster customer loyalty. Inan example embodiment, the dynamic aircraft information 360 may includelatitude and longitude coordinates and altitude to provide a position in3D space. In some cases, the dynamic aircraft information 360 mayfurther include heading and speed so that calculations can be made todetermine, based on current location in 3D space, and the heading andspeed (and perhaps also rate of change of altitude), a future locationof the aircraft 110 at some future time or an estimated time of arrivalat the destination. In some cases, flight plan information may also beused for predictive purposes to either prepare for maintenance orcontrol actions that are likely to be needed, or to provide planning forasset management purposes.

The dynamic aircraft information 360 may be determined by any suitablemethod, or using any suitable devices. For example, the dynamic aircraftinformation 360 may be determined using global positioning system (GPS)information onboard the aircraft 110, using data from AutomaticDependent Surveillance—Broadcast (ADS-B) or other such systems, based onmultilateration or triangulation of aircraft position based on adirection from which a plurality of signals arrive at the aircraft 110from respective ones of the access points, using aircraft altimeterinformation, using radar information, and/or the like, either alone orin combination with each other. In some cases, the altitude, heading andreference system (AHRS) may provide information for use in generatingthe aviation cookie 305.

In an example embodiment, since the information manager 240 is capableof knowing aircraft location, and provides the aviation cookie 305 inassociation with specific requests or communications from communicationequipment on the aircraft 110 (e.g., the UEs 270 or OCEs 272), theaviation cookie 305 can be indicative of the location and identity ofspecific communication equipment. As such, content specific to theindividual and/or the location of the individual (now or in the future)can be used to tailor content or services to the individual. However,since the dynamic aircraft information 360 can also include any otherdata available from the aircraft 110, the aviation cookie 305 canprovide much more than just information for servicing of the individualwhose communications form the anchor of the aviation cookie 305. Assuch, in some cases, the aircraft information attaches to communicationsof an individual on the aircraft and facilitates the provision ofservices or information to the individual, but in other cases, theaircraft information facilities the provision of services or informationthat is unrelated to the individual (e.g., aircraft servicing, crewscheduling or training, route planning and/or the like). Thus, forexample, the aviation cookie 305 may relate to aircraft healthmonitoring notification data bursts or other Internet of Things poweredapplications.

In some embodiments, the aviation cookie 305 can be attached or includedwith each request or communication provided from the UE 270 or OCE 272on the aircraft 110. However, in other cases, the aviation cookie 305may be attached to only specific communications or may be generatedbased on temporal constraints (e.g., at specific time intervals, whenhaving traveled for a given time or when a specific time from landing).In other cases, the aviation cookie 305 may be generated based onspecific event occurrences. Event-based generation of aviation cookies305 may allow the current conditions experienced on the flight (e.g.,maintenance issues, turbulence, and/or the like) to generate contentbased on the corresponding events that caused generation of the aviationcookie 305. Accordingly, for example, the aviation cookie 305 may notonly provide an indication of the specific user and the user's locationfor the generation of content specific to the user's search or servicerequests based on location. Instead, the specific situation or events onthe aircraft 110 can be provided into the aviation cookie 305 so thatmore targeted content or services can be provided. As an example,messages noting specific events may be generated, offers for upgrades,discounts and/or the like may be generated, scheduling activities orother context specific content may be generated by the content server260 based on the aviation cookie 305. Flight delays, re-routing,maintenance milestones, weather developments and/or other events maytherefore be accounted for and reacted to in real time while passengersand crew are still in the air, by virtue of the content server 260 beingaware of the event that caused the aviation cookie 305 to be generated.The content server 260 can therefore provide targeted content orservices based on the aviation cookie 305. As such, for example, theaviation cookie 305 may be indicative of a delayed arrival time for aparticular passenger based on the current location, heading and speed,weather information en route to the destination, air traffic controlinformation, and/or the like. The content server 260 may then provideprompting to the customer to rebook flight and/or hotel accommodationsbased on updated arrival time and/or location information. In somecases, the content server 260 may generate advertisements targeted tothe passenger based on the dynamic aircraft information 360.

Regardless of whether the content server 260 responds to the aviationcookie 305 in real time, or whether some data is stored at the contentserver 260 for future planning/processing, the information manager 240may be configured to provide the aviation cookie 305 for facilitatingthe provision of content or services at least in part based on thedynamic aircraft information 360. The content or services can thereforebe provided in real time, or may be scheduled for future action.Accordingly, it should be appreciated that the information manager 240may be generally configured to provide content and/or services based ondynamic aircraft information 360 that is used to generate the aviationcookie 305 for communications leaving the aircraft 110. The aviationcookie 305 may be added or otherwise generated before the communicationsleave the aircraft 110 (e.g., when the IM 240′ is embodied on theaircraft 110), or after the communications leave the aircraft 110 (e.g.,when the information manager 240 is an entity on the ground incommunication with the ATG network 210).

As such, the system of FIG. 2 may provide an environment in which theinformation manager 240 of FIG. 3 may provide a mechanism via which anumber of useful methods may be practiced. FIG. 4 illustrates a blockdiagram of one method that may be associated with the system of FIG. 2and the information manager 240 of FIG. 3. From a technical perspective,the information manager 240 described above may be used to support someor all of the operations described in FIG. 4. As such, the platformdescribed in FIG. 2 may be used to facilitate the implementation ofseveral computer program and/or network communication basedinteractions. As an example, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method andprogram product according to an example embodiment of the invention. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart, may be implemented by various means, such ashardware, firmware, processor, circuitry and/or other device associatedwith execution of software including one or more computer programinstructions. For example, one or more of the procedures described abovemay be embodied by computer program instructions. In this regard, thecomputer program instructions which embody the procedures describedabove may be stored by a memory device (e.g., the information manager240) and executed by a processor in the device. As will be appreciated,any such computer program instructions may be loaded onto a computer orother programmable apparatus (e.g., hardware) to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus create means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block(s). These computer program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer-readable memory that may direct acomputer or other programmable apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture which implements the functionsspecified in the flowchart block(s). The computer program instructionsmay also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable apparatus tocause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process suchthat the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus implement the functions specified in theflowchart block(s).

Accordingly, blocks of the flowchart support combinations of means forperforming the specified functions and combinations of operations forperforming the specified functions. It will also be understood that oneor more blocks of the flowchart, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computersystems which perform the specified functions, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

In this regard, a method according to one embodiment of the invention,as shown in FIG. 4, may include receiving dynamic aircraft informationassociated with operation of an in-flight aircraft at operation 400,receiving a message from a communication device on the in-flightaircraft for transmission to a ground based content server via an ATGnetwork at operation 410, and generating an aviation cookie forcommunication to the content server along with the message at operation420. The aviation cookie may be generated based on the dynamic aircraftinformation and may enable the content server to generate content basedat least in part on the dynamic aircraft information.

In some embodiments, the method may include additional, optionaloperations, and/or the operations described above may be modified oraugmented. Some examples of modifications, optional operations andaugmentations are described below. It should be appreciated that themodifications, optional operations and augmentations may each be addedalone, or they may be added cumulatively in any desirable combination.In an example embodiment, the dynamic aircraft information may includeposition information of the aircraft, speed and heading of the aircraft,engine health monitoring data, real-time weather or environmental dataand/or the like. In an example embodiment, the aviation cookie may begenerated responsive to interception of an HTTP or web cookie andmodification of the HTTP or web cookie. Alternatively or additionally,the aviation cookie may be generated responsive to an event occurrenceon the aircraft. In such an example, the aviation cookie may includeinformation indicative of the event. In some embodiments, the aviationcookie may be indicative of aircraft location and an identity of acommunication device or user of the communication device. Alternativelyor additionally, the aviation cookie may be generated based on atemporal constraint. In an example embodiment, the aviation cookie maybe associated with the message from an individual, but may facilitatethe provision of content or services related to the aircraft andunrelated to the individual. Alternatively or additionally, the aviationcookie may be associated with the message from an individual, and mayfacilitate the provision of content or services related to theindividual. In such an example, the aviation cookie may further enablethe provision of content or services based on a current or futurelocation of the individual at a future time based on the dynamicaircraft information. In an example embodiment, the aviation cookie maybe associated with a search request from the communication device, and aresponse from the content server may be generated based on a currentlocation of the communication device, an arrival location for theaircraft, or a point of origin of the aircraft. In some cases, theaviation cookie may be indicative of flight progress or status, and aresponse from the content server may be generated based on the flightprogress or status. In such an example, the response may includeinformation for arranging transportation or accommodations at anexpected time and location of arrival of the aircraft based on thedynamic aircraft information. Alternatively or additionally, theresponse may include information for arranging alternative flightarrangements based on the dynamic aircraft information. Alternatively oradditionally, the response may include a coupon, an offer for upgrade,or a return message generated based on the dynamic aircraft information.Alternatively or additionally, the response may include an advertisementgenerated based on the dynamic aircraft information. Alternatively oradditionally, the response may include information associated withservices for operational productivity, passenger productivity, safety,entertainment, or economy.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which theseinventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associateddrawings describe exemplary embodiments in the context of certainexemplary combinations of elements and/or functions, it should beappreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions maybe provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scopeof the appended claims. In this regard, for example, differentcombinations of elements and/or functions than those explicitlydescribed above are also contemplated as may be set forth in some of theappended claims. In cases where advantages, benefits or solutions toproblems are described herein, it should be appreciated that suchadvantages, benefits and/or solutions may be applicable to some exampleembodiments, but not necessarily all example embodiments. Thus, anyadvantages, benefits or solutions described herein should not be thoughtof as being critical, required or essential to all embodiments or tothat which is claimed herein. Although specific terms are employedherein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and notfor purposes of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information manager comprising processingcircuitry configured to: intercept a message from a communication deviceon an in-flight aircraft to a ground based content server via a wirelesscommunication network configured to communicate with in-flight assets;and modify, based on dynamic aircraft information received inassociation with the in-flight aircraft, the message to include anaviation cookie, wherein the aviation cookie includes destinationinformation of the in-flight aircraft, and includes a portion includingcontent or data associated with a function of the aviation cookie. 2.The information manager of claim 1, wherein the dynamic aircraftinformation comprises speed and heading of the aircraft.
 3. Theinformation manager of claim 1, wherein the aviation cookie furthercomprises identity information and a portion indicating an intendedrecipient of the content or data.
 4. The information manager of claim 3,wherein the identity information identifies the in-flight aircraft. 5.The information manager of claim 3, wherein the identity informationidentifies an individual or device of the individual on the in-flightaircraft.
 6. The information manager of claim 1, wherein the dynamicaircraft information comprises engine health monitoring data.
 7. Theinformation manager of claim 1, wherein the dynamic aircraft informationcomprises real-time weather or environmental data.
 8. The informationmanager of claim 1, wherein the aviation cookie is generated responsiveto an event occurrence on the aircraft, and the aviation cookie includesinformation indicative of the event.
 9. The information manager of claim1, wherein the aviation cookie is generated based on a temporalconstraint.
 10. The information manager of claim 1, wherein the aviationcookie is associated with the message from an individual, butfacilitates the provision of content or services related to the aircraftand unrelated to the individual.
 11. The information manager of claim 1,wherein the aviation cookie is associated with the message from anindividual, and facilitates the provision of content or services relatedto the individual.
 12. The information manager of claim 11, wherein theaviation cookie further enables the provision of content or servicesbased on a current or future location of the individual at a future timebased on the dynamic aircraft information.
 13. The information managerof claim 1, wherein the aviation cookie is associated with a searchrequest from the communication device, and wherein a response from thecontent server is generated based on the destination informationdefining an arrival location for the in-flight aircraft.
 14. Theinformation manager of claim 1, wherein the aviation cookie isindicative of flight progress or status, and a response from the contentserver is generated based on the flight progress or status.
 15. Theinformation manager of claim 1, wherein the function comprisesrequesting server content from the content server, and wherein aresponse to requesting the server content is provided based on progresstoward a destination of the in-flight aircraft as determined in part bythe destination information.
 16. The information manager of claim 1,wherein the function comprises requesting server content from thecontent server, and wherein a response to requesting the server contentis provided based on preference settings related to an individualassociated with the communication device.
 17. A system comprising: aground content server; an air-to-ground wireless communication network;an in-flight aircraft having communications equipment configured tocommunicate with the ground content server via the air-to-groundwireless communication network; and an information manager comprisingprocessing circuitry configured to: intercept a message from acommunication device on the in-flight aircraft to a ground based contentserver via the air-to-ground wireless communication network; and modify,based on dynamic aircraft information received in association with thein-flight aircraft, the message to include an aviation cookie, whereinthe aviation cookie includes destination information of the in-flightaircraft, and includes a portion including content or data associatedwith a function of the aviation cookie.
 18. The system of claim 17,wherein the aviation cookie is associated with the message from anindividual, but facilitates the provision of content or services relatedto the aircraft and unrelated to the individual.
 19. The system of claim17, wherein the function comprises requesting server content from thecontent server, and wherein a response to requesting the server contentis provided based on preference settings related to an individualassociated with the communication device.
 20. The system of claim 17,wherein the aviation cookie is associated with a search request from thecommunication device, and wherein a response from the content server isgenerated based on the destination information defining an arrivallocation for the in-flight aircraft.